During the 1830s the Church of Scotland was in crisis. The Evangelical party, led by Thomas Chalmers, replaced the Moderates as the dominant force in the Church. Their vision of a much more active and crusading future was disappointed, however, by the insufficiency of financial support from the State, coupled with a series of legal decisions in the House of Lords that seriously limited the Church's control over its own internal affairs, most notably the appointment of ministers. Finding themselves at an impasse, on 18 May 1843 Chalmers and his Evangelical supporters walked out of the General Assembly to establish a new Church of their own, which they called the Free Church of Scotland.

In what is known as the Disruption of the Church of Scotland, over a third of its ministers and roughly half of its lay members declared allegiance to the new body. Deprived of state support, it was not an Established Church, but Chalmers and his colleagues had high hopes that it would fulfil the same role – a truly national Church that would care for the spiritual and educational needs of the whole population. They sharply distinguished themselves from other Presbyterian churches, known as ‘Voluntaries’, including those which had seceded in the eighteenth century, which had been campaigning for the complete separation of church and state, allowing all sects to compete on an equal footing. Chalmers insisted that the Free Church adhered to the Establishment principle. But in doing so it faced a huge challenge. While other Churches could support themselves from the contributions of its congregations, they were only viable in the wealthier areas of the towns. In working-class districts and in the country, a Church required additional sources of income. Not only that, of course, but the Free Church initially did not have any church or school buildings to call its own, and in some places, services were conducted in the open air.

A huge fund-raising programme was set in motion, at home and abroad. Representatives were dispatched to England and Ireland the same summer, and at the end of the year a five-man deputation set sail for the United States, where they reaped the benefit of long-standing links with the Presbyterians.